Midnight

"What's wrong Seria?" asked Arcum. His hands were behind his back, but then he crossed his arms and took upon a more comfortable looking position. "I was just wondering... What happens to a vampire when he dies?" Seria looked down at the armor she was wearing as she spoke. "I don't know. Who does? No one can tell us except for the gods, and I'm sure they will keep their secret. But, Seria, I do know one thing." Arcum said, nodding his head slowly. "What is that?" Seria looked up at Arcum. "I know that a vampire's hunger always lasts. It will never die as long as it has a body to feed with." said Arcum. Seria thought on this for a few moments, and nodded, and walked away.

It was almost midnight, and the moonlight offered a soft white illumination to the land as Seria padded silently through the shadows. In a place far away from Windy Bluff, or any city for that manner, Seria stopped and knelt. She was standing over the grave of an ancient vampire. It had been many years, far too many to count, since this vampire last walked the lands. Seria stood, after saying a few brief words, and stepped back. Seria looked around her, and figured that nothing was near, and began to chant a brief mantra. The ground began to shake slightly. Like lightning, a crack appeared in the ground, and another, and another. The ground rose, and broke, leaving a simple wooden coffin floating in the air. With a wave of her hand, Seria set the coffin down next to the large hole which was created. She slowly walked up to the coffin, and swung it open.

What was lying inside it brought many a memory to Seria. She stared at the corpse of a young looking katrin which was lying lifeless inside it. His fur was black, void-black, and his eyes matched the color of his fur. His eyes were slightly open. They used to be entirely silver, yet now it looked as though he had no eyes at all. She put her hand on the vampire's cheek, and looked at him. He wore all of his equipment, yet he was wearing a black silk shirt, and only his scimitar was at his side. Seria got into the coffin, and took a long slender shard from a sheath under her armor. She creased the skin of her right wrist with it.

"Aethentus, give him the blood he needs," said Seria as she made a violent lurching movement and sliced her wrist open. A spray of red flew through the air, followed by a steady stream of dark crimson blood. With her left hand, Seria set the bloody shard next to her, and opened the vampire's mouth. His teeth were all white, including his long canines. "Please, please work," she repeated many times as her blood flowed into the vampire's mouth.

Seria lifted her left hand and put it on her right shoulder. A loud ripping noise echoed through the endless shadows as she ripped her sleeve off, and wrapped it around her wrist. The blood flowed down the corpses throat, yet it still was lying there, completely and utterly lifeless. She sat there for a few moments, and her eyes began to sparkle as tears rolled down her face. Seria began to shake slightly, and then wrapped her arms around the vampire's shoulders and lifted him up. She held the corpse in a powerful embrace and began to sob, a loud and body lurching sob. Unknown to Seria, while she did this, her tears were smeared into the fur of the vampire, and dripped into the mouth of the vampire. After a few moments, Seria collected herself, and got up. She picked up Aethentus and got out of the coffin and turned around, then sadly, she uttered some words. Behind her, the coffin closed and began to float in mid-air. As she finished uttering the words, she looked down at Aethentus and the armor she was wearing. She quickly spoke a few more words, and before the coffin could go back into the hole in the earth as she had commanded it to do, she set it back down where it was.

Seria turned around and walked back to the coffin. "I can carry these no longer, they are not mine," she said. She slipped off the armor, which seemed to grow when it was fully removed, and held it in her right hand. Aethentus was in her left. She slipped her fingers under the top of the coffin, and swung it open. Seria looked down into the dark coffin and froze. Her mouth slowly opened in surprise as she stared into the empty coffin. As quick as lightning, she was being held from behind, and a piercing pain shot forth from her neck. She dropped the equipment she was holding, and everything slowly became black. Yet... Before she had lost all of her senses, she could hear the blood leaving her head, and the primal, almost guttural, grunts which were coming from whatever was holding her. Then, blackness.

The sweet music of the wind woke Seria. The stone on the top of the Temple of Tarin was smooth and shiny. Seria looked about her, and saw the moon in the position it is in right after it rises. It was the next night since she visited the grave. It was quiet, the silence seemed to be louder than the occasional gust of wind. Seria got to her feet and brushed herself off. Her arm was no longer wrapped in her ripped sleeve, for it was now wrapped with smooth black silk. She looked at her shirt, and noticed that it wasn't ripped. It must've been a new one. She looked back up to the moon, then looked down. She was standing on the top of the Temple of Tarin, and she knew it. Her dress swung silently as she turned around.

Standing at the other end of the stone plateau was a figure wearing what seemed to be a crimson lined black leather cloak. Its arms were crossed, and its hood was up. The darkness which lied behind the hood seemed infinite. It merely stood there, arms crossed. The silence was earth-shaking now, yet was broken by a gust of wind which sent the back of the figure's cloak flapping silently. Seria reached up and brushed a wisp of black hair away from her face and began to walk towards the figure. The walk seemed to last for hours, days. Then, she stood before it. She was nervous. The figure took no breath, it was completely silent in every way. Seria lifted her hands, and slowly slid the hood down.

He looked exactly as he did a century ago, a millennium ago, except for his eyes... His eyes were still black, Seria felt she could reach into them and swim in the never-ending sea of blackness. The vampire spoke, revealing his fangs.

"Seria," he said, in a dark, low voice, the voice he has had ever since he had become a creature of the night. "You're back," said Seria. The vampire stared into her eyes. "Yes, I am." replied the vampire. The silence was back. They stared at each other for eternity, then the vampire spoke again. "When I thought that this life, that this existence was torture, I was wrong. In death, I served a fate worse than the Dark Lord himself could exact. It was nothingness. I had taken myself to the death plane, and I never stepped into any after-life. I just stayed within the gateway. It wasn't blackness, it wasn't light, it was just nothing. And, unfortunately, I will return to that fate soon." "What? No, no, you're back," said Seria as she stepped closer to the vampire.

"When the moon is above us, when the midnight hour comes upon us, I will leave again. You have given me sight and form within the realm, but not being. It is only a matter of time. Not even the sound of hell's bells will be heard by my ears ever again," said the vampire. It was odd, almost as though the vampire knew he had no way of continuing, and it was so helpless that accepting was the only thing he could do. "No!" Seria leapt at the vampire and wrapped her arms around him. He lifted his hands and held her. "There must be a way. I know that you know a way." she said as she nuzzled the vampires neck.

"Yes, there is. There is a way, but there is only a small chance that I will be able to survive." "How, how can we do it?" asked Seria. Seria looked into the vampire's eyes, and he lowered his head and whispered something into her ear. Seria nodded. "We will try it, you have nothing to loose, and I don't either. What do I do?" The vampire looked at her for a few moments, then nodded. "Pray." was all that the vampire said.

It was close to midnight, Seria could feel it, but she continued on. "My gods, I pray to thee, please, I wish to serve for the light. Cure me of my curse, please." Seria was on her knees in a small clearing in the forest. Her hands were clasped at her chin, and she was staring into the sky at the moon. She felt she would not be able to summon a god. She had been praying for hours now. "I devote my being to good, to the light! Please, help me! I can not survive anymore, the world of darkness holds nothing for me!" Seria continued. A few moments later, a faint sound was heard, and Seria stopped.

Vines began to spurt forth from the ground. They tangled with each other and began to rise. They were entwined with each other, and soon they rose to create a solid form. Barset stood before Seria, hands behind his back. "Oh! My lord! Please, I wish to become good, I can't handle the darkness anymore!" Seria yelped. "Be calm, vampire," said Barset. He looked unimpressed and scornful. "You are nothing but the filth of the realm. Honor and respect rest in my heart, but none of it is for you. Get out of my sight, and silence yourself, for the gods do not wish to hea-" Barset suddenly stopped. Barset heard something, something that could not be caused by the winds or realm, but something else was there. Barset's senses were above all mortals', yet he hadn't needed them, for he was always able to sense all forms of life, or all forms of undead. "Ugh!" Barset grunted as his arm was pulled behind his back and Aethentus was pushed hard against his neck. "You know, gods can murdered, if you do it right," spoke a voice from behind Barset. It was the vampire.

"No..." said Barset. "How could I not have known you were there, Mentor?" asked Barset.

The vampire's grip on Barset tightened. "Do not call me by my real name! I am known as Xodus to you and every other one of your little followers." said Xodus. He paused for a few moments, and Seria got to her feet. "You didn't know I was here because I'm not even undead. I'm still within the death plane, but that will change very shortly." Xodus opened his mouth. But, before he could bite down, he began to feel weak. Sera quickly looked up and noticed that the moon was above the land, and that it was midnight.

"No!" yelled Seria. Xodus' hand started to slide off of the god's body, and he was about to collapse. Everything began moving slow for Seria, it was like a dream. Seria began speaking, she didn't know what she was speaking, or who she was speaking to, but she began speaking. Then, she stopped. Xodus' eyes closed in her dream, yet...they opened again. Seria could see the form of Xodus' eyes now. They were glazed over, and he was no longer himself. He was animated, he was now only a corpse standing behind Barset with his hands barely on him. Words began to fill Seria's head now. "A vampire's hunger always lasts. It will never die." What was once Xodus lunged foreword and grasped Barset's shoulders with his arms. The corpse bit down on the god's neck, closed its eyes, and began to suck. Barset fell to the ground. Seria could feel everything around her come back. She was out of the dream and staring at reality. Barset began to scream as his godly blood began flowing away from his being.

It was so light at first, but a tendril of mist winked into existence. Then another, and another, then it became a steady wisp of mist. Then, a shroud of mist began to swirl around Xodus and Barset. Faster and faster it swirled. Xodus' raised his head and began to scream. This scream was something that Seria nor Barset had ever heard before. This scream wasn't Xodus, but the vampire inside Xodus. It was primal, loud, and completely damning. Xodus stopped screaming and opened his eyes. They were silver. He looked at Seria, and before she could do anything, he blurred out of existence. As soon as she even saw that he was gone, she felt herself lift up, and she was quickly, very quickly, moving away from the groaning god's body. She wasn't standing anymore, she looked to her side and saw Xodus' head. She was on his shoulder, and he was running with her. It was too fast, impossibly fast. His footfalls weren't heard, but the sound of the surroundings flying by could only be compared to the buzz of a humming bird's wings.

Arcum walked into the worship room of the Vampire clanhall looking for Seria. He hadn't seen her since their talk about vampires and death a while ago. A black blur flashed through the room and Arcum stepped back. Arcum could barely figure what it was. It looked like someone carrying someone else...

Arcum ran up to the door to Xodus' resting room, which hadn't been closed for many years, ever since the ancient vampire passed, and noticed it was closed. He tried to push it open, but it was locked from the inside. "I haven't seen anyone run that fast since..." Arcum looked up at the door. A few moments later a grin cracked on his face, and he turned around and laughed happily as he walked down the dark corridor.

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